Salon Des Inclusion March-April 2024
The Salon Show, organized by the GSA Gallery Society, stands as the largest exhibition ever curated by the society, featuring a diverse range of over 100 artists. Ellis Bairstow, in his capacity as the founder and a key curator of the society, led a team of seven individuals to bring this ambitious project to life. Working alongside gallery curator Dr. James Hutchinson, Ellis played a central role in conceptualizing and executing the show.
The show was driven by a critical question: What gives students the power to accept or reject the work of their peers? In response to this, the curatorial team decided to adopt an inclusive approach, accepting every single submission as long as it adhered to broad logistical rules designed to manage space constraints. This open-minded philosophy allowed the exhibition to encompass a wide range of work from students, teaching staff, and operations staff at the Glasgow School of Art.
The Salon Show ended up being a monumental achievement, presenting the largest collection of GSA works assembled outside of the annual degree show. Through this project, Ellis was able to explore the intersection of curation, collaboration, and inclusivity.
Night Shift May 2024
For nightshift, It was the 4th exhibition held by the GSA Gallery society and for this show we decided we wanted to change the normal format of an exhibition. We wanted to have a show that was only open during the night. We also wanted to incorporate this in to the works in some way by placing a focus on pieces that challenged the norm for their specific media, in terms of final display to the audience. This could be done by focusing on the way light effects their work and incorporating this in the work or taking a piece outside of traditional display methods like a frame. The show had a live performance by Tom Gibson and Agnes Little where they lived inside the gallery space for the duration of the show.
Momentum
May 2023
Momentum was the first exhibition that I organised as part of the GSA Gallery society. The goal of the Society was to create an avenue for GSA students to regularly have access to exhibitions outside the art school. I wanted something that allowed every course to submit regardless of their media. The curatorial rational for this show became a way of showing what the purpose of the society was. We exhibited 25 artists from every school at GSA and created a succesful platform for the production of future exhibitions.
Fluxus
December 2023
Fluxus was the first exhibition in the second year of Gallery society and in my third year at GSA. As a team we curated a show based around the ‘Fluxus’ movement. Selecting works that responded to this in a broad sense, still including work of all media to allow a broad range of artists to submit. The show was a big success with over 300 visitors coming to the show over the 5 day exhibition in New Glasgow society